Allow me to set the scene: 1640, and the fort is some 20 years old. The century long monopoly of the Portuguese traders in Asia is under grave threat. The Dutch have just seized and sacked the Portuguese entrepot of Malacca - the next target is the enclave of Macau.
The harbour below swells with the victorious Dutch fleet, laying tight seige to the Portuguese foothold in China.
A Priest from St Paul (pictured below fort) strides out angrily. Crossing himself, cursing the enemies of the Crown, the Quina and the one true Church, fires the first cannon shot, high above the harbour on Fortress Mount.
The Dutch ammunition ship is hit - blowing the entire East India Company fleet to smithereens.
Or so the story goes...
Macau was handed back to China in 1999.
5 comments:
Portuguese Forts in Asia!
Finally!
[N.B. There's no sarcasm here - I'm sad enough to be genuinely fucking impressed right now. My only fear is that you're going to peak too early with all this killer material. Fires that burn twice as bright, yadda yadda...]
See.... quality. That's what I like to see. Who needs numbers when you've got commentators like these. Welcome to BmL, Fydrich.
For he to-day that bloggeth his thoughts with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And those in blogdom now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their threads cheap while any speaks
That blogged with us 'pon Bite my Latte.
PS Commenting first on the PF 'n A series makes you our inaugural 'Capitão do Fortaleza', Fyodor.
'Capitão do Fortaleza'
I can think of no other title I would value so highly, particularly given the extraordinarily fierce competition I had to crush to secure it.
It's good to be the Capitão.
On a related (by only a few semiotic degrees), matter, have you read the Alatriste novels? "Sun over Breda" was particularly good on siegecraft in the Baroque era, which I'm beginning to suspect may be right up your gunbarrel.
O meu Capitão.... muito obrigado for the tips. I've been meaning to brush up on my siegecraft. Of course, there may be tropical variants, but I'll just have to read cross-culturally.
Incidentally, I've instituted a commemorative poll to mark your inaugural commission.
Results to date are most revealing.
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